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Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Adverse drug reactions represent an important public health problem. However, the importance of this problem in ambulatory care in Colombia is unknown.
OBJECTIVE: establishing the prevalence of adverse drug reactions as the reason for visiting an emergency department.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: the study took place at the "Luis Carlos Galán Sarmiento Empresa Social del Estado" Emergency Department's Central Outpatient Centre in Bogotá. It was carried out between September 20th and October 2nd 2004. The adverse drug reactions were identifed by an evaluator who reviewed all clinical histories, noting when physicians had indicated that a reaction had occurred. The patients were contacted. Two people evaluated causality, the degree of preventability and the mechanism producing the adverse drug reactions.
RESULTS: 45 adverse drug reactions were recorded in 1,395 visits made during a two-week period (2.8%). Modifed spontaneous report detected 26.7% of adverses drug reactions identifed by active search. 73.3% of all identifed adverses drug reactions occurred in females, 64.9% in people older than 60; 75,6% were possible (causality assessment), 95,6% were non serious, 44,4% were of A type (mechanism producing the adverses drug reactions), and 22,2% were preventable.
CONCLUSIONS: adverses drug reactions represent an important proportion of the reasons for outpatient consultation; the modifed spontaneous report system detected a fourth part of those. There were no statistically signifcant differences between gender and adverse effects frequency. Adverse drug reactions occurred more frequently in elderly patients. Two out of each 10 adverses drug reactions could have been prevented.
Key words: Pharmacoepidemiology. Drug utilization. Medicamentous disease. Emergency medical services. Ambulatory care. Secondary effect.
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